If you like watching professional League of Legends, you probably are excited for Worlds this year. If you are excited for Worlds this year, you probably like playing Pick’Ems every year. Well this year, Riot launched Pick’Ems with a tasteless statement.
Tim Sevenhuysen, founder of Oracle’s Elixir, tweeted about his disappointment about Riot’s statement for Play-Ins in the Pick’Ems site. This probably had something to do with the fact that Riot said “Play-ins are happening and we don’t support that fiesta. Sit back, relax and gather up your posse in preparation for the show.”
This didn’t end there. Bunch of other people from the League of Legends esports scene rose up and responded to this disrespect to Play-Ins.
Despite everyone writing different stuff, the main sentiment remains the same. Play-Ins are an important part of the show that is Worlds and Riot literally saying “We don’t support that fiesta” was unnecessary and tone-deaf when you’re talking about a stage that is most, if not all of their Worlds journey for some regions. After all the criticism and responses, Riot took down the text from their site and wrote an explanation/apology on its Twitter account.
Even if that statement is true, Riot Games’ behavior and actions against smaller regions have gathered a lot of bad responses these last months. From the shutting down of LCO to the closing of Esports Arena in Turkey, this backwards trend has been going on for a while. Hope we see it turn the right way soon.
